Cong: govt must send message across that India is not 'weak'

Concerned over frequent ceasefire violations along LoC by Pakistan, Congress on Friday asked the government to take all necessary diplomatic and other actions to send the message across that India was "not weak", while suggesting that confidence building measures should continue.

Party spokesman Sandeep Dikshit said that confidence building measures (CBMs) should continue with Islamabad which should also act to normalise the situation.

Welcoming the steps taken by the Army to strengthen the patrolling along the Line of Control in the wake of the brutal killing of two Indian soldiers by Pakistani troops, he also referred to the diplomatic and other pressures put by the government on Pakistan.

He dismissed suggestions that there were differences between the government and the Army over the way to tackle the situation in the wake of the ceasefire violations by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.

On demands that India suspends peace talks with Pakistan, he said it would be better that Pakistan acted to normalise the situation instead of aggravating it. He said Congress considers the present situation as serious.

He brushed aside remarks by BJP leader and former external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha that both UPA and NDA had committed mistakes by engaging Pakistan in talks.

"They (NDA) may have committed a mistake by taking the bus to Lahore", he said, referring to the bus ride undertaken by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Incensed over the killing of the Indian soldiers, Congress had yesterday said that India was not a "soft state" and had asked Pakistan "to learn lesson from history", while reminding it of the Bangladesh war. Earlier, it had also told Islamabad not to try the patience of New Delhi.